Tag: second impact syndrome

Yesterday someone arrived at this blog via the search “hit head again make memories restore”

Please. Do NOT do this! It only works in movies and comic books, and they will say anything for a buck. Think of all the cartoons about Wile E. Coyote surviving a dynamite blast. Or future superheroes surviving atomic blasts and other super-power inducing near-death experiences. Comic books and cartoons are not reliable sources of medical advice. Nor is Hollywood.

A second impact to an already injured brain can do even more damage than the first. You think your memory is bad now… Another injury can lead to second-impact syndrome, which is where the second brain trauma has even worse consequences than the first… possibilities: swelling… dramatic disability… death.

After you injure your brain, you need to rest it, to let it get itself back in order. During concussion, connections are broken, and also substances are released in the brain which impair/kill brain cells. If you don’t give yourself enough time to heal, the damage from a second impact can be devastating, even lethal. Some experts advise taking at least three months off to heal the brain. Others say one month will do. Once upon a time, people believed it could be shaken off with no consequence. The rash of suicides and premature deaths in professional contact sports tells us a different tale.

Even after you’ve had time to heal, another head injury tends to be worse than the one prior. Damage is cumulative (not very comforting to me, as I’ve had around 9 mTBIs in the course of my life), and each injury can bring with it a whole new slew of issues. I can attest to that.

Think of your brain as a network of highways through a vast wilderness. When some of the roads get torn up, and new roads get put in their place, they can end up going some roundabout routes that are less direct than the original connections. Also, you have to let the concrete and asphalt set before you can drive on it. And you have to let the paint dry, so you don’t end up tracking the stripes all over creation and end up with a lot of crossed signals.

These things take time. And hitting your head again will NOT restore memories. I wish Hollywood and comic books would quit telling us it will.